Trashy Pearls | My Music Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Rock Music’

The devil is said to appear in countless forms, and many people were convinced he appeared in the form of rock bands when they began backmasking their lyrics in the 60s.  Backmasking, or backward masking, is a technique of recording song lyrics backward onto a track that is played forward.  What started as an innocent accident by John Lennon swirled into a frenzy of controversy, record-burning protests, proposed government legislation, and a witch hunt for bands whose lyrics were deemed satanic.

Backmasking of song lyrics was one of the Beatles’ many musical innovations.  While high on pot, John Lennon accidentally played the tapes for the song “Rain” backwards, and liked the sound of the reversed lyrics.  The rest of the band agreed, and incorporated the effect into the tune, making it the first to contain backmasked lyrics:  “Sunshine….rain.…when the rain comes, they run and hide their heads.”

At the time, music was recorded on vinyl, which could be manually played backwards on a turntable.  A disc jockey, intrigued by rumors that Paul McCartney was dead, played the tune “Revolution 9” backwards, and heard the lyrics “Turn me on, dead man,” as well as the lyrics “Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him,” when playing “I’m So Tired” backwards.  These lyrics appeared to confirm the “Paul is dead” rumor, which popularized the backmasking of rock music lyrics.

This led to a fierce backlash from Christian fundamentalists in the 70s.  They accused Led Zeppelin of planting satanic lyrics in “Stairway to Heaven.” They also alleged that bands, including the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, and Styx were cooperating with the Church of Satan by backmasking messages from the devil into their song lyrics.  The religious right pushed for legislation to place stickers on these bands’ albums warning about lyrics inspired by Lucifer, but the bill was defeated.

In retaliation, several of the accused bands recorded albums containing intentional, ridiculous backmasked lyrics.  ELO fired back with an album called Secret Messages, containing the backmasked lyrics, “Thank you for listening,” “Look out, there’s danger ahead,“ and “You’re playing me backwards.”  Styx took jabs their critics with the album Kilroy Was Here, whose lyrics parodied an imaginary group called “The Majority for Musical Morality,” which outlaws rock music.

Heavy metal song lyrics reeled from some of the hardest hits.  In his 1988 trial, serial killer Richard Ramirez testified that the lyrics of “Night Prowler,” from AC/DC’s Highway to Hell album, drove him to commit murder.  Judas Priest was sued in 1990 because two Nevada boys had made a suicide pact that was allegedly inspired by the subliminal lyrics, “Do it,” in the band’s song “Better By You, Better Than Me.”  The case was dismissed for insufficient evidence that the lyrics played a role in the boys’ deaths.

Like inkblots and clouds, lyrics played backwards can be interpreted as anything if you concentrate long enough.  Or, as comedian “Weird Al” Yankovic joked in the backmasked lyrics of “I Remember Larry,” “You must have an awful lot of free time on your hands!”  Elcitra siht deyojne uoy epoh.

Rock is an exciting and highly admired genre of popular music which mainly appeals to the young generation. This extremely famous form has attained great recognition and adulation amongst the music lovers for several decades. The most admirable aspect of this genre is its variety and unique style. This form uses several high tech instruments which give an attractive and interesting appeal to it. The instruments like synthesizers, mouth organ and piano etc are used while playing the melodies. Rock is the modern and advanced form of music that is comparatively faster and louder than the conventional genres like classic and folk. It gives the artists a liberty to experiment with variety of styles and express themselves with freedom. The soul of rock is the rock band or the group of musicians and singers who collectively play the songs.

The youth is simply crazy for this form of music; they are ardent fans of the various rock stars. The rock albums take you through the various aspects and emotions of life. The words of the songs simply enthrall the senses and thrill the listeners. In this kind of music the prominent vocal melody is accompanied with hard instruments like drums, brass and guitar etc, along with the mellotrans and other keyboard instruments.

Some rock bands also use the conventional instruments like harmonica, melodica, banjo etc. Some highly creative artists have experimented a lot with the less known instruments like sitar and mandolin. This gave their songs a completely different appeal.

Rock music evolved around 1940’s and 1950’s. This genre is highly influenced by the country music and blues which were very popular around that time. This style was basically a blue-based song with fast and peppy dance tracks. One can find the classic albums on various online music stores. You can search top rock music albums on the internet.

The rock reached great heights with several amazing rock stars that awed the audiences with amazing performances. Elvis Presley is the most admired and popular artist in the world of rock; his astounding style, classic dance movements and incredible songs entertained the music lovers. The Beetles is the most famous and highly applauded rock band. They had the most numbers of the chart topping hits.

Eventually by the late 1960’s the various rock bands emerged which were famous amongst the music lovers at that time. The bands from United States and Britain gained immense popularity. Some of the most famous bands were Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Queen and Judas Priest.

By the 1980 the glam metal genre made waves in the rock music world. Bon Jovi, New York Dolls, Sweet, Guns and Roses, Twisted Sister and Kiss were the several most popular artistes of the 1980’s. In the 1990’s Rock soared new heights with emergence of some highly commendable forms like Grunge. This popular genre was associated with the fusion of various elements like hardcore punk and heavy metal sound to give amazingly enthralling melodies. The lyrics of the songs focused on the themes of social concern like entrapment and alienation. The Grudge had heavy and loud tunes with extensive use of guitar and fuzz. Several famous bands like Alice in Chains, Candlebox and Soundgarden, gained a wide audience applause and appreciation.

The Britpop and Indie Pop were few forms that gained immense adulation in the 1990’s. In the 2000 several new styles of pop gained recognition and flourished with great adulation. Garage rock, Emo and Metal core are the most admired sub genres of rock. Various rock bands like the White Stripes, The Vines and The Strokes came with some thrilling and happening albums. These are very famous CD rock music hits.

With the emergence of MTV rock gained immense hype and recognition. Internet further enhanced the growth of this unique genre. The highly popular rock music CDs are available on the internet, you can easily find your favourite DVD for rock music on various websites.